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The Last Samurai and Flames and Dangling Wire

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The Last Samurai and Flames and Dangling Wire
How have the composers of the text you have studied explored the challenges and obstacles faced by characters who change?

In my supplementary text “Flames and Dangling Wire” there are no characters but the society shows change.

Composers have explored the challenges and obstacles faced by characters and the society. In the film ‘The Last Samurai’, directed by Edward Zwick and the poem ‘Flames and Dangling Wire’ by Robert Gray the composers have used techniques to make meaning, and have explored the challenges and obstacles faced by characters/society who change: firstly, through the past and the present; secondly; by the effect of external forces.

Both composers have used techniques to convey that in order to move on from the past many challenges and obstacles may be faced. In ‘The Last Samurai’ Algren’s past leads to him facing many challenges and obstacles. For example: At the start of the film Algren in an alcoholic and depressed man who drinks to forget his past. He gets a lot of withdrawal symptoms and screams out for “saki”. Algren has a lot of trouble overcoming his past and this is shown through his facial expressions and attitude. The dark lightening, close-up shots of his face and the stance create the depressed atmosphere, which show how he is having trouble moving from the past.

The idea that the past moving on from the past involves many obstacles and challenges is also evident in ‘Flames and Dangling Wire’. The composer (Robert Gray) shows how the past lead to a more modern/materialistic society. Robert Gray compares the old fashioned radio with its dangling wire and its voices still traveling around in the space, no longer being heard. “I notice an old radio, that spills
its dangling wire –
and I realize that somewhere the voices it received
are still travelling. Dark imagery has been used in this quote, showing a future challenge that our world is headed to be nothing but a wasteland of things that no longer work. In both “The Last

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